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Jazz Articles | Future
Swinging with Sartre: Jazz Is Like Bananas
“Jazz is like bananas, it must be consumed on the spot." These immortal words were first brought to life by the famous French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in an article that appeared in the Saturday Review, November 29, 1947. The article, titled I Discovered Jazz in America, was written after a visit to jny: New York City in the mid-forties, where Sartre had attended a jazz performance at Nick's Bar. “They play. You listen. No one dreams. ...
read moreJazzkaar 2017
Jazzkaar 2017 Tallinn Estonia April 21-30, 2017 Jazzkaar covers most territories. This exceptional 10-day festival presents the best players on the indigenous Estonian scene, imports big-name acts from the USA, and also invites some choice artists from around the rest of Europe. Some shows represent jazz in mainstream mode, whilst others twist towards the innovative. There is also a strong commitment to bands who skirt the edges of rock, pop and electronica, ...
read moreToxic: Mat Walerian/Matthew Shipp/William Parker: This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People
Polish multi-instrumentalist Mat Walerian is on the verge of reserving his seat in the pantheon of groundbreaking hornmen who recorded for the late Bernard Stollman's storied ESP-Disk' label. Not as frenetic as Frank Wright, nor as strident as Sonny Simmons, Walerian instead boasts a singular approach that binds Eastern influence and blues sensibility with fluent, legato phrasing, often reminiscent of Marion Brown's lyrical finesse. His first two live recordings for ESP--The Uppercut: Live at Okuden (2015) with Matthew Shipp and ...
read moreSonia Aimy: Nigerian Spirit
Nigeria's ethnic and language diversity is directly reflected in their myriad musical traditions and styles. Sonia Aimy is a singer/songwriter from Benin City, in Nigeria's southern region; raised in a musical environment, she relocated to Italy for serious studies in theater and music, leading to jazz appreciation and performance, which influences her compositions. Wrapped in imaginative lyrics amidst layers of instrumentation, Nigerian Spirit is an incantation for hope, presented with a versatile afro-jazz attitude, blended with highlife, juju music, and ...
read moreSamo Salamon Sextet: The Colours Suite
Slovenian guitar ace Samo Salamon fronts a European ensemble akin to one of those legendary all-star jazz summits, but of course these colorific works veer off into an experimental wonderland of improvisation with split-second paradigm shifts amid the ensemble's synergistic discourses. Nonetheless, the respective musicians are at the top of their game here, as Salamon arranged for drummers Roberto Dani and Christian Lillinger to generate the seismic currents by staying in synch but not necessarily executing the same patterns.
read moreThelonious Monk: Les Liasons Dangereuses 1960
It's nearly impossible to underestimate the importance of the discovery of the tapes Thelonious Monk made for the French film Les Liasons Dangereuses 1960. Recorded in New York in July 1959, the session, although used in the film, was filed away for some 55 years. Recovered and remastered, we hear not only the soundtrack, but alternate takes and Monk rehearsing his band. Monk had never scored a soundtrack, but was convinced by the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter to ...
read moreFive Women IV – Linda Carone, Gunilla Törnfeldt, Polly Gibbons, Angie Wells, Jeannie Tanner
Linda Carone Black Moonlight Self Produced 2017 Canadian singer Linda Carone's debut recording, Black Moonlight is an intentional period piece. It is a collection of ten pieces given an organic swing workout. Carone possesses a mature, sensual instrument that when combined with her period support makes for irresistible listening. The singer and support establish a light-as-feather touch, maintaining it with solid creative momentum for the duration of the recording. There are no bumps in this ...
read moreMargrete Grarup: Denmark's jazz secret is out
The Copenhagen daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende in 2015 called Margrete Grarup “the best kept secret in Danish jazz." In 2017, with two albums released in rapid succession on Storyville, that secret is out... and a star is born. Grarup has a wonderfully rich and expressive voice. She comes to jazz via the Scandinavian blues and gospel scene. There she would sing “down in Mississippi where I come from" like she meant it. She's actually from Aalborg in ...
read morePaul Tynan & Aaron Lington Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five
Chapter Five is the fifth recording by Paul Tynan / Aaron Lington's Bicoastal Collective, which derives its name from the fact that trumpeter Tynan lives in Nova Scotia, saxophonist Lington in San Jose, CA. What sets this CD apart from the others is that the Collective has morphed from a smaller version to a full-fledged eighteen-piece big band. The music remains essentially the same with four compositions by Tynan and four by Lington, all of which draw ...
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